1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a system for determining an identification of a work from media content in data received by a processing system. More particularly, this invention relates to a system that generates a report of the identities of works received by a processing system.
2. The Prior Art
Data may be transferred between computer or other processing systems in a variety of ways. The data may be transferred by a first processing system writing the data to a media, such as a magnetic disk or compact disc, that may be read by a second processing system. The Internet may also be used to transfer data between computer systems. The data may be transferred via the Internet in a file or as a stream of data. The transferred data may include a work.
For purposes of the present discussion, a work is anything that is fixed in a tangible medium. Some examples of works include, but are not limited to, audio renderings, video renderings, images, video/audio renderings, and software. An example of an audio rendering is a song or other audio track. Examples of video renderings include animation or video sequence. Examples of an image include photographs and paintings. Examples of audio/video renderings include movies, television shows, and cartoons. Examples of software include word processing programs and video games.
Most works have a property right, such as a copyright associated with a work. Thus the owner of the property right is entitled to a royalty or other form of compensation for use of the work. For example, an owner of a song copyright, such as a songwriter, is entitled to a royalty for each copy of the recording produced.
Therefore, there is a need for a method to identify works that are present on computers systems and to generate reports of the works. The reports may be used to verify royalty payments or generate Arbitron®-like ratings by identifying how often works are being streamed, downloaded, or reproduced in another manner. The reports may be used by an organization to ensure that the organization obtain a proper license for a work prior to reproducing, perceiving, or otherwise communicating the work. Alternatively, the reports may be used to verify a bill of materials prior to the replication of a work. Furthermore, the report may be used to alert an agent of an owner of a work that a copy of the work is present on a processing system.
In order to identify works, most files or streams of data including the work include an identifier, such as a watermark, a meta-tag, a header, or other data structure that identifies the work in the data. Often a physical media, such as a Compact Disc (CD) or Digital Video Disc (DVD), that embodies the recording includes identifying marks or metadata stored on the media as well as the recording of the work. In order to avoid detection of a transfer of a work, many users may remove or change these identifiers in the file, a data stream or stored on a media such as a CD or DVD. Therefore, a processing system cannot rely on the presence or accuracy of these identifiers. Thus, a work may be reproduced by a processing system without the permission or knowledge of the owner of a property right in the work. For example, a user may remove a meta-tag from a file containing a song and transfer a file to a second processing system. Since the meta-tag no longer identifies the song in the file, the processing system may reproduce the song without proper identification of the work and/or the permission of an owner and may avoid paying royalty fees to the owner. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method for identifying a work in a transferred file or data stream from the media content of the file. For purposes of the present discussion media content is the data in a transferred file or stream that is a representation of the work.